The Paradox, the Doctor, and the Door And the Ponies
by ThePenParadox
Summary: The rumors of 'Paradox' have spread far, even to the remote dimension of the peaceful ponies. 'Paradox' has supposedly spread the darkness to this world eons ago, creating the antagonists King Sombre and Nightmare moon. Meanwhile, the other half of the Elements of harmony are in reach, if only Lightningbolt could remember who he was.. "Paradox' is closely pursued by the Doctor.


(Author's Note: This is a work in progress, and a crossover of both My little Pony and a work of fiction I am creating myself... but im not done with it yet...)

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. Well, there was rarely ever a bad day in Ponyville, so let me restate that. It was a normal day in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle woke up feeling refreshed and happy, and as she got out of bed she glanced at the tiara and dress on display near her bed. It had been only a few weeks since Twilight had become princess Twilight, but she was trying to keep her life as it had always been. For the most part is was.

At first everyone bowed to her all the time, but it made her uncomfortable and she asked them to stop. In a few days, they greeted her like they always had, as her friends, the citizens of Ponyville.

In the meantime, Rainbow Dash had been giving Twilight flying lessons, as she was not used to her new alicorn wings at all, and made little progress. She still flew worse than Derpy Hooves. Twilight didn't mind though, she could still get around on all fours as she had before.

Twilight crept over to Spike's bed, where he was sleeping soundly. Spike was sleeping on his chest, leaving his back exposed, and a tiny pair of wings fluttered silently as he breathed. Twilight beamed, his new little wings were so cute, and she was happy that her little dragon was growing up.

Twilight silently trotted down the staircase, and navigated the library to the kitchen to make breakfast. She made some hot oatmeal for both her and Spike. She sprinkled a little gold dust on Spike's meal, just the way he liked it. The smell brought Spike out of his sleeping 'coma' (as it usually did).

While they ate, Twilight looked over her schedule again, today was virtually free. Twilight was fine with that, she needed to break.

"So, Spike, I've got a lot of free time, we can do whatever you want today."

Spike licked his bowl clean, and then his lips, "Oh, I promised Rarity I'd help her clean out her material stores today," he said, "sorry Twi."

Twilight nodded, "It's always nice to help everypony. Don't worry about it at all."

Twilight cantered down the roads of Ponyville, enjoying the day to herself. She said hello to everypony who greeted her. She found herself trotting to the open field between Ponyville and the Everfree forest. Twilight decided to practice her flying, and, unfurling her wings, rose shakily into the air. She swooped and swerved wobbly, like a Pegasus who had too much cider. Finally, bumped and bruised, she decided it was enough for the day and started back to town.

"Princess Twilight, wait!

Someone enters the forest gate!"

Cried a voice from the forest. Zecora the zebra emerged from the brush, breathing hard. Twilight stopped and turned to her,

"What's the matter Zecora?"

"Several strange colt

Make for this way,

That's why here I bolt,

Listen, I pray.

The darkness is come,

From the land I called home,

Help those colts, who roam,

Give them friendship and home."

Twilight thanked her; it was indeed strange to have visitors from beyond the Everfree forest. The darkness part worried her though. She galloped back to Ponyville, and as she entered the gate, Spike ran up to her, a scroll clutched in his claw.

"Twilight!" Spike shouted, "It's urgent!"

Twilight took the letter with her magic and unsealed it. It was from Princess Celestia, and it just told her to gather the others of the six, the elements of harmony and make their way to the ancient castle in the Everfree forest.

As the six mares walked through the dark forest, they reminisced on their first adventure in this very forest with the same destination. They all agreed it was nice to not have a deranged lunatic on their hooves. They made it to the castle just as the sun touched the horizon. They were exploring while they waited for the Princess to arrive, when they heard some commotion in the distance. The curious ponies clambered up to the wall and watched the massive black shape tear through the forest and let out a burst of fire. They saw two Pegasus flying around the monster, one yellow and one green. The most curious thing was the objects that seemed to ensnare the black beast. Massive vines sprung up and held the monster down, only to be torn by its massive power. Huge pillars of earth slammed into the monsters chest from below, setting it off balance. Blasts of flame poured at it from the earth, torrents of water slammed the beast, fed from streams and rivers nearby, and the green Pegasus seemed to procure massive gusts of wind like blades.

"What manner of magic is this?!" exclaimed Twilight, "I've never seen anything like it! And that thing is a dragon I think, but not like anything in my books!"

"Well whatever it is," said Rainbow Dash confidently, "I'm taking it down!"

She made to rush after it on wings of lighting,

"Wait," said Twilight, "Let's go in together and see exactly what we are dealing with."

"Yeah, we need to make sure we have the cards!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, what in the name of apples are y'all talking about?" Asked Applejack.

"Well if we are going to be 'dealing' with a dragon it's obvious we'll be playing cards with him! Keep up now."

They shot out of the castle and through the wood towards the sound of destruction, although Pinkie lagged behind because she had a deck of cards in her mouth. The 'dragon' reared up and roared, and they could see through the treetops just how massive this Godzilla was. It was a long and greenish-black lizard that towered over them like a massive Komodo dragon. Its sickly red eye saw the vulnerable ponies over even that long distance and started for them.

Suddenly, five stallions ran into view, laughing. When they saw the six mares frozen on the spot, their countenances darkened and they halted.

"Go! Get away from here, you're in danger!" the green Pegasus said in a panicked voice as he shot up to face the monster. Everyone ran, either to face the monster or get away from it. Except Twilight, who was still frozen. Her friends, when their basest instincts of survival took over, left her in the dust. She wanted to run. She couldn't though, the monster was screaming in pain, his only solace was in killing; his only hope was to maim. Consume.

Undeterred by the colt's efforts, the beast moved towards the frozen princess. Suddenly, the last of the six colts shot out of the forest, the yellow Pegasus, and shook Twilight from her stupor. He took her hoof and looked into her eyes, which were now riveted on the stranger's purple ones. His eyes seem to be filled with sadness, loneliness, and yet utter joy. He smiled, and his voice was like electricity,

"Run."

That was all she needed. They both ran side by side, their flanks touching occasionally, sending sparks shooting up her spine. They ran out of forest, as it dropped off to a cliff. Twilight didn't even hesitate, they launched off the cliff, wings unfurled. They shot off into the cooling air, and the fearsome monster followed them off, and plunged to the earth with a tremendous crunch that shook the earth. The brown stallion stomped his hoof and the whole cliff face crumbled and buried the beast in a massive pile of rubble.

There was cheering from the other stallions that stood on the edge of the new cliff. Twilight and the yellow Pegasus flew over towards the castle, their wingtips touching occasionally.

The girls were just entering the castle when the two Pegasus landed on the crumbling castle wall.

"Thanks," said Twilight breathlessly, "I never caught your name."

"Aye, malady, Lightning Bolt," he said and grinned a kooky smile.

Twilight laughed.

"And what is your name my princess?"

"Twilight."

"A fitting name."

"Ha!" Said the green Pegasus as he landed next to them.

"We showed him! All why you were flirting, Lightning"

Lightning Bolt clicked his tongue and turned his head,

"Swiftwing, we only won because Miss Twilight and I led it off the cliff."

Swift snorted and flew down into the courtyard.

They met in the ancient ballroom, a huge circular room. They sat on the floor and talked for a long time. They all clicked instantly, as if they'd always been friends. The boys spoke of their childhood roaming the lands past the Everfree forest how they found themselves and were taught by a master of their strange magic. Twilight, who sat close to Lightning, noted that only two were unicorns, though they all claimed to use the magic.

"It's not really magic," claimed Lightning, "it's in everypony, and it's called affinity. Well, almost everypony." He rolled a small pebble around with his hoof.

"Lightning doesn't have an affinity," explained Boulder, the earth affinity pony.

"Most Pegasus have a wind affinity, most earth ponies claim earth or nature affinities, Unicorns have lightning and fire affinities, and sea horses, like Hurricane," he motioned to the blue colt with seaweed green hair, "have water affinities, naturally."

The girls were indeed impressed, but so were the stallions when they were told the girl's adventures.

"I had no idea we in the presence of a princess." The white unicorn with red eyes, Hearth, bowed respectfully.

Lightning grinned and leaned over to whisper to Twilight.

"They aren't as attentive as moi, for example, while they were just getting the monster mad and not doing much damage, I was trying to lead it to that cliff you threw it over."

"Why don't you work together?" Asked Twilight.

Lightning shook his head, "they don't listen to me, because I don't have powers. It's a guy thing."

"Well that's no good, if you can't work together, you'll fall apart one day."

Lightning smiled, "I know, they'll come around one day, they used to listen to me."

It got late, and Celestia had not appeared. They rolled out the large bedrolls the boys had and huddled together for warmth.

Lightning couldn't sleep. Two reasons for that actually, one, he felt like he'd been here before, but that was impossible. He was certain he'd never seen it before, but it filled him with a strange sort of deja vu. Second, Twilight's head lay across his back, and it sent electricity all through his body. It was satisfying though, and wouldn't have kept him awake, but Swift kept kicking in his sleep and bucking Lightning in the flank. Wait... That's three reasons...

Lightning wondered about the letter they had received via their dragon, Mayberry. They had sent her ahead when the monster appeared, and Lighting prayed she was okay. He felt she was fine and even happy. Oh, right! The letter, so they got this letter that told them it was time to return home. The boys had met this with excitement, talking of this castle from whence they'd first began their adventure.

They had found Lightning later, a lost and starving orphan, with no memory of any past. Those boys helped him so much, as well as the villagers in the lands past the Everfree forests. He sighed. He was not one of these powerful stallions. They rode with power and strength beyond normal ponies.

Lightning did pride himself in his knowledge; he spent many hours, nay, years in the Great Hall of Knowledge pouring over the books and scrolls. He even read prima and novels, and tried his hand at the literal arts. Almost without thinking he conjured up the door to the Great Hall. It made a dull thud as it appeared, and Lightning grimaced, he'd not meant to do that. Twilight sat up at the noise and saw the grand door sitting in the center of the room. Apparently she couldn't sleep either.

Twilight stood and crept to it, wide-eyed. Lightning got up after her.

"What is this?" She whispered to him.

He explained in hushed tones, that he could call that door out when he wanted to visit the place he called the Great Hall of Knowledge.

"But where is this hall?"

"Right in front of you."

"No, I mean where would it be on a map, I assume that this door is like a portal to this place elsewhere."

"I wouldn't know, but we can go in."

He opened the door and trotted in, Twilight on his hooves. The hall seemed to reach back into eternity, but Lightning knew where he was going among the rows of doors.

"All the doors are locked," he said, "except this one,"

He pushed said door open and let her in first. She could help letting out a gasp. The room was massive and circular, ridding up three stories with many levels and shelves of books. Ladders clung to every shelf, tables and chairs were scattered across the entire space.

"My word," said Twilight, "this is impressive."

Lightning followed her as she wandered among the shelves and glanced at titles and spines.

"Where did these all come from?" She asked.

"I researched that, and I found out that a man called 'Paradox' found pure space and made this entire place with his mind. He traveled the world and time filling his shelves and looking."

"For what?"

"His friends," he smiled, "I thought that was amazing that'd he'd travel space and time looking for them..."

"I time traveled once, it caused me to time travel in the first place," she smiled, "a paradox."

Lightning laughed. Then it hit him.

"You actually time traveled. Wow."

He sat down.

"You are quite the mare Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight chuckled and pulled down a book and leafed through it. Twilight glanced up.

"You said something earlier that intrigued me, you said 'man'," she stated, "what is a 'man'."

Lightning got up and pulled down a book, Leonardo Da Vinci it read. Her leafed through and showed her a picture, Leo's ever so famous proportional drawings of man.

"That is a man," he said, "their stories line most of these shelves, the books I've collected are over there," he pointed across the room.

Twilight sighed, "I'd love to stay and read, but it's late and we don't know when Princess Celestia will show up."

Lightning looked confused, "don't you mean Queen Celestia?"

Now Twilight was confused, "No, I said what I meant, she's always been 'princess',"

"I guess I just thought wrong..." They walked back to the front and out to their friends. They both lay down, heads on each other's flanks, as if were natural, and fell asleep, the buzz still tingling in their skulls.

The door was gone in a blink, never there at all.

The next day came pleasantly, there was light dew on the grass, and the birds chirped merrily. Twilight and Lightning were still asleep when the sun left the horizon. A few of the ponies snickered at the two sleepyheads with their heads on each other.

"Well I think it's cute," proclaimed Fluttershy quietly.

They started to eat, when a beam of sun light thickened and Celestia appeared before them. They all bowed as Luna appeared as well. Celestia saw Twilight and Lightning asleep and raised an eyebrow. Swift coughed loudly.

"Twilight," said Celestia, prodding her gently, "wake up."

Twilight, still asleep, snorted and adjusted her head. The movement made Lightning wake, and he open his eyes to see the princess. Not in the least bit phased, he turned to Twilight and whispered in her ear,

"Celestia is here."

Twilight's eyes shot open and she turned to see her mentor standing there.

She stumbled to get up, "princess Celestia!" She exclaimed, "I, uh..."

"Twilight, as a princess, I expect better of you!"

Twilight turned bright red, "No, we didn't, you know, do..."

"Do what?"

"It..."

"What it?" Cried Pinkie Pie, ''Is it a cupcake? Cuz I'd take a cupcake right now!"

The tension was relieved as they all laughed.

"I'm sorry I doubted you. Well I see you've all been acquainted," stated Celestia, then her mood turned a bit darker, "I've much to tell you all, so sit." They obliged, although Twilight and Lightning sat a bit further apart then they liked.

"Long ago, I was not just princess, but a queen..."

"Ha!" Shouted Lightning, "I was right!"

Celestia tilted her head, "I don't know you," she said, "what's your name?"

"Lightning Bolt malady"

She suddenly looked distraught, "I should know that name," but then she shook her head, "anyway, I was a queen, the queen, and my husband's name was Sombre."

The girls gasped.

"He was once a good stallion, brave and kind and true. Those were the days when darkness ruled and chaos had its merry way. He kept our land peaceful and calm, but the time came when he had to fight off the darkness for good. He succeeded, but in a terrible way, he absorbed the darkness into his heart, for my husband thought he could use that power to protect his people.

"But it consumed him.

"He attacked the crystal kingdom and Cantorlot, and Luna and I stopped him with the elements of harmony."

Luna spoke, "He was my best friend, my only brother, and it hurt me greatly that he attacked us. He came to me in dreams, no, nightmares and persuaded me to make endless night. I did, or tried, and I was undone." She smiled, "until you all saved me."

Celestia began again, "About the same time I started mentoring you, Twilight, I found the bravest young colts and put together a band of six... no, five, to go past the Everfree forest in search of the other half of the elements of Harmony."

"The other half?" Asked Twilight, "what other half?"

"The Elements always numbered twel... eleven; half were the values, half the ideals. Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, generosity and Friendship. On the other hoof, the values, you all discovered."8

"You boys found it, right?"

The stallions exchanged worried looks.

"Not really..."

Celestia nearly fell over, "What!? You didn't manage to find it!?"

The boys squirmed as she started to panic.

"But there's only a year or so until the winter solstice when Sombre will be released again!"

The boys explained they had found the ancient shrine where the elements had been kept, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"We can go look again..."

Celestia's eyes flashed with fury.

"No, you've already failed. I'll have to send the royal guard. Yes, I'll even go myself." She muttered the last part to herself.

"Luna, you and Cadence are in charge of Cantorlot while I am gone."

She disappeared in a flash of light.

Luna slowly stood and sighed.

"I've never seen her so distraught. She's really scared."

The other ponies stood and Luna turned to leave,

"Celestia has forgotten that the elements are in you all. Go to Ponyville and find them within yourselves."

She vanished.

It was quiet in the ballroom for a good while.

"What was that all about?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"I think Celestia is worried about the Day of Darkness, which lies on the winter solstice next year. It's said that that is when a solar eclipse will happen and release Sombre from Tartarus.

"I guess we need the other half of the elements to stop him permanently."

The group of ponies trotted through the forest towards Ponyville chatting occasionally. Demetry, the nature bound earth pony, marveled at the beautiful flora and fauna in the dark woods. The trees seemed ancient and wild, the effect of hundreds of years. Demetry noticed that one of the mares kept glancing at him. Fluttershy was her name. She made her way closer as they walked.

"Um, hi..." Whispered Fluttershy almost inaudibly.

"Hullo."

"So, um do plants talk?"

"Sort of, it's like they give off more of an aura though. Not as much talking as just growing."

"Oh, okay."

They got back to the town around lunchtime, and were greeted by everypony in the town. Mayberry had apparently told everypony what transpired in the forest.

The said dragon met them in the plaza with Spike. They had become fast friends.

There were no inns or hotels in Ponyville; one had to stay with friends and family. Applejack had lots of room in the barn so the six visitors slept there until they could find more permanent housing.

The next day, the boys were shown around Ponyville, Pinkie Pie gave them the super tour. She introduced them to everypony in the town, which took most of the day. She showed them the shops and the hang-outs, even the chimichanga stand. She had a heated discussion with the vendor, when he persisted that he would never sell 'cherrychangas' or 'chimicherrys'.

Pinkie even set up a party for them in the plaza. Lightning had a great time, but the crowds made him claustrophobic, being raised in a small village did that to you. He fluttered up to the top of the town hall carousel and watched the stars. He heard someone come up behind him. It was Swiftwing.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Swiftwing spoke up, "Crazy, right. One day we're wanderers on a failed mission, the next we've got a new home." He paused, and then nudged Lightning, "and you've got a girl."

Lightning laughed.

"It's weird, I felt like I've known her my whole life."

"Well I did know Dashie and Fluttershy; we were both in flight school at the same time. I saw Dashie break the sound barrier and make a sonic boom, a sonic Rainboom really. I've tried to do that same thing ever since, but I couldn't. I wanted to ask her how'd she done it, but that next day we were called to join in the journey. She never left my mind, that spectacular mare."

He rolled a pebble around with his hoof.

"I don't know why I'm telling you though..."

Lightning smiled, "I'm one of those ponies' everypony trusts. And it's not without merit."

Swift stood, "Well, I'm going to join the party, Pinkie really knows how to throw one."

He slipped into the cool night air. Lightning stared at the stars, naming the constellations he saw. Then he closed his eyes and remembered the constellations in one of the books from man. Not a one matched up. He sighed; it would be really cool if he could find where 'man' lived. Despite their war-torn history, they were a people filled with hope.

There was the sudden noise of hooves on tile, and Lightning turned to see Twilight land clumsily on the roof.

"Sorry," she said, "I'm still no good at flying yet."

"But you flew so well when we ran from the monster," stated Lightning as Twilight sat next to him, on the opposite side of where Swift had been. She shrugged,

"Maybe because you were beside me."

Lightning smiled, "Maybe."

They were quiet for a while, just watching the stars and enjoying the cool night air.

"In a few weeks," said Twilight, "Is the Grand Galloping Gala, we all need to go to Cantorlot, so after the Gala we can talk to the Princess Luna and Discord. We need to see what we can get from them. There is so much more going on than appears, and it all ties back to Sombre and you boys.

"I also don't appreciate how much Princess Celestia has kept from us."

Lightning sighed, "Celestia most likely has her reasons, and I'm guessing that it hurt when her husband attacked. That must be why she chose to be 'princess' instead of 'queen'."

Twilight sighed, "That makes sense, but it would still be nice to know. I mean really! King Sombre! I've never read anything about this, I mean really!"

She shook her head.

Lightning gazed into the stars, "I'd like to talk to them too... Luna talked to me in my dreams, at first I told her I felt I shouldn't have come, because I wasn't one of the five, but she told me that I reminded her of someone, she couldn't remember who thought.

"And when I first saw you, my heart raced, like I was returning to a lost friend. I know you, Twilight. But I don't remember. Something is happening, just like you said, and I am determined to find out who I am."

Twilight turned to him and tilted her head, "I feel the same, like we were friends before, good friends."

That night, the five stallions trotted to the barn to sleep, accompanied by Applejack with the sleeping Applebloom on her back, and Big Macintosh. They said goodnight and the three siblings when went to the big house, while the stallions went to the barn.

They gathered around the little gas light, with their bed rolls under them, and thick woolen blankets over them.

"Pinkie sure does know a thing or two about parties," claimed Hurricane, "and she knew everyone by name. That is impressive."

"You all remember living here as colts, no?" Asked Hearth, "In Ponyville, we went to the same school, with most of those girls. And Hearth isn't Celestia your aunt?"

Hearth nodded, "Blueblood is my older brother."

It took them a bit of reminding, but they did remember. They started talking about their childhoods, remembering all the stories from then. Lightning got in a blue funk. He couldn't say anything or even pretend to know, although some stories they mentioned somepony they couldn't remember, and Lightning felt those stories were familiar. He deduced that he was indeed there, and somepony or something wiped him from everypony's minds and histories. And what about Celestia, she said six before she said five, and twelve before eleven.

He smiled. He'd figure this out soon enough. But now he needed rest. And a dream.

The next day, Applejack put the stallions to work, it was apple bucking season, and the farm hands needed the help. They even managed to get Rainbow Dash to help, despite her claims that she had things to do.

"Sleeping don't count as 'things ta do' Rainbow Dash," said Applejack on the subject.

For the next week, the boys went to sleep easily, until they pulled in the entire crop. The day after the crop was in, the boys slept in. Except Lightning. He got up at the same time as usual and trotted into town. He made his way through the bustle on foot and found the Tree Library. He was there for three reasons, one, Mayberry said she was staying there; two, Lightning wanted to check out the books; and three, the main reason, he wanted to see Twilight, he had not seen her all week. He knocked, and a little purple dragon answered.

"Oh, you must be Lightning Bolt," said Spike, "come on in."

Lightning instantly fell in love with the little library in the tree. It was simply enchanting. Twilight was at a desk, flipping through pages in various books while eating from a bowl of oatmeal. It was easy to multitask with magic.

Twilight was so wrapped up in her research; she didn't notice Lightning until he spoke.

"Nice place you've got here princess."

Twilight nearly fell out of her chair.

"How'd you get there!?"

"Uh, Spike let me in."

She tried to flatten her unruly mane.

"One second, I'll be back."

One second turned into an hour, but before Twilight returned, Mayberry described her week, and Lightning told her all about his.

Twilight descended the stairs, her mane now in perfect submission. Lightning bowed,

"You look lovely malady," said he.

Twilight frowned, "I don't like it when ponies bow to me, I just a regular pony after all..."

She paused a moment,

"Deja vu, didn't you say that once?"

Lightning was baffled, "No, why would I have said something like that?"

Twilight shook her head, "never mind. I was just thinking out loud"

They spent the day just talking while they walked around Ponyville. It felt so natural, like they were best friends. This frustrated Lightning, he was so close to figuring out who he was, and yet...

That next week Lightning and Twilight spent pouring over histories and letters all about Celestia, Luna, and Sombre. But nothing added up. The day before they were going to leave for Cantorlot, Lightning suggested they take a break and see what the other ponies were doing.

They started walking. "Let's visit Rarity," suggested Twilight, I know she was making us clothes for the Gala, and she hasn't taken your measurements yet."

Lightning wondered to himself what a 'Gala' must be like. Boulder explained it was a big party with lots of dancing, but it was hard for him to imagine.

Rarity was excited to finally have Lightning's measurements; she and Hearth had been working on the other ponies' gowns and suits. Lightning was impressed with the quality work they had done, he recognized some of the stitching as Hearth's own patented one.

"I never knew you liked this kind of stuff Hearth," stated Lightning.

Hearth smiled wryly and flipped his mane, "It's my passion now."

Twilight and Lighting watched Swift and Dashie clear the sky for a while. When it was all cleared, they landed nearby.

"I totally won!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "I got twenty-seven clouds!"

Swift grinned, "I got twenty eight."

"Nuh-uh! Well, I did it faster!"

They went back and forth like this for a while.

"Race you to Cloudsdale!"

They were gone.

"Well that was exciting," stated Twilight.

Lighting laughed, "Definatly! Who do you think will win?"

There was a far-off boom and an explosion of color as water droplets in the air were displaced and created vivid prismal illusions.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "Defiantly Rainbow Dash."


End file.
